Category Archives Failsafe Classes

In an interesting order, Judge Jackson granted defendant Office Depot’s motion to dismiss the class allegations in a putative class action brought under the TCPA, 42 U.S.C. § 227, alleging the transmission of unsolicited faxes. Judge Jackson shrugged aside Plaintiff Lindsay Transmission’s protest that the motion to dismiss prior to class discovery was premature, citing Rule 23(c)(1)(A)’s directive to determine the propriety of class certification “at an early practicable time.” This is of course consistent with the increasing number of courts that have expressed a willingness to dismiss class allegations at an early stage, and the Court may well have been influenced by Office Depot’s affidavit explaining that Lindsay Transmission’s initial nationwide discovery requests would have required more than 2,000 manager hours to interview 1,132 store managers in 1,111 retail stores, a truly expensive fishing expedition. Instead, the District Court mooted the onerous discovery requests by striking the class allegations…